"Harry and I are getting married," I repeated because when I had said it the first time, Theodore looked like someone had slapped him in the face. How I wished I could slap him for real.

Theodore's jaw fell open while Samuel Klinefeld stepped back as if I had physically struck him. The jury seemed a bit stunned as well but their silent shock was soon replaced by whispers and murmuring.

The judge called for order and banged his gavel again.

Klinefeld finally came to his senses and said, "Well, that's a bit of surprise but it really doesn't make any difference in regards to this trial since everything in question happened before you and Harry got engaged."

"It makes a difference for us," I told him, then I looked back at Theodore. "I hope it proves to you that neither Harry nor I will ever back down in the face of a bully again. You tried to convince both of us that Harry was intellectually disabled when clearly he wasn't, you tried to intimidate us and threaten us and you even tried to kill us to somehow prove that your sick and distorted version of the truth was the real truth, but it wasn't. The only thing your disgusting plans did was to lead me to discover the most intelligent, wonderful, thoughtful, sweet and caring man I've ever met. Only an idiot would be too blind to see who Harry truly is." Theodore's face was beet red by the time I finished, but I couldn't tell whether it was from anger or embarrassment. Either way, I was glad I got the chance to speak my mind. I honestly was shocked that the judge let me speak so long. Maybe he secretly wanted me to give Theodore a piece of my mind, too.

We broke for lunch and did the same thing as we'd done the previous day, which was ordering food in the courthouse cafeteria and then bringing our lunches to eat with Anne, who stayed in the room where she was watching the trial.

"How do you think it's going so far?" I asked her as I took a seat across from her. Harry went around the small table and sat beside her.

"I liked what you had to say to Theodore, although he deserved a thousand times worse," she said with a pleasant smile.

"There were many words I chose not to use because I didn't want the judge to throw me out," I laughed. "But I hope the news of our plan to get married gave him a little jolt of reality. He tried so hard all these years to pretend Harry was something that he wasn't and as soon as I helped him find the freedom he deserved, Harry moved on with his life. His normal, happy, healthy life." I glanced at Harry and said, "Well, at least I hope it's happy."

"Do you even have to ask?" He said, giving me a tender kiss on the cheek.

"I guess not, because I'm happy, too." I went to kiss him on the cheek in return but he turned his head and caught my mouth, luckily with a very PG-rated kiss since we were sitting with his mother, Clive and my parents.

"Does that man know how to lie under oath or what?" Clive said just before he took a giant bite of his deli sandwich.

"Well, I hope that you have a chance to set him straight about the overdose," I said. "Wait, but you didn't come to me until after they took Harry away. What if it boils down to his word against ours?" I worried.

"My opinion should count for more than anyone's," Harry commented. "Besides, can't they look at the recordings from the nanny cams?"

We all stopped chewing and stared at each other. Why the hell hadn't we thought of that? Why the hell hadn't Nathan thought of that? I raced out of the room to find him as he was just heading towards the courtroom.

"Come in here," I said. "We need you."

He followed me and greeted everyone again even though we'd just seen each other half an hour earlier.

"Has anyone found out if Theodore recorded any of the nanny cam feeds? That would tell us a whole lot about the things that happened, right? When Harry overdosed, when they brought me back in after being shot...Damn, that would be a gold mine!"

He looked at me with a slightly sarcastic smirk. "Don't insult me, Juliette," he teased. "That was one of the first things I checked out. Apparently he had one of his employees destroy the footage, delete it from his computer or whatever, right after he was arrested. You know how his drones worked to protect him."

"Shit," I mumbled. "Oh sorry. I just thought that could have been so helpful."

"It definitely could have," Nathan answered. "I'm sorry but he covered some of his tracks pretty well."

"Well, I can't say I'm surprised," I said dejectedly.

"Good idea, though," Nathan smiled. "We're starting again in about ten minutes, just to let you know."

"Thanks," we all answered in unison.

When we returned to the courtroom, Nathan called Sarah, Amy, and Kim, one at a time, as witnesses. He asked them each the same basic questions: How long did you work for Theodore? Did you ever notice that Harry seemed brighter and more alert than you'd expect for a special needs child? Did Theodore's rules ever seem harsh and his punishments unusual? Did he threaten you? Did he approach you sexually or threaten sexual abuse?

Their answers provided further insight into Theodore's twisted mind as well as what Harry had endured all those years. The nannies had all noticed something was different about Harry but they never thought to teach him higher level school work. Idiots. They all thought the punishment of 24-hour confinement was too harsh and none of them ever enforced it. Amy and Sarah were more lenient about the hugging and physical affection; Kim was very strict about not showing physical affection at all, which explains why Harry was so worried the first time he hugged me. They had all witnessed Theodore intimidating Harry, verbally abusing him and calling him stupid and retarded, and they had been victims of his intimidation as well. They all had experiences of Theodore being overly controlling of them. In addition, he pulled the same old seductive moves that he pulled with me and from Sarah's testimony, it sounded like Theodore had slept with a lot of his female staff. It was good to hear that at least some of the women in his employment had decent heads on their shoulders. I shuddered to think about how close I had come to giving in to him.

Klinefeld did his typical intimidation run on all of them but they weren't having any of his crap. They stuck to the truth and from where I sat, it didn't sound like Theodore was gaining any ground. I really hoped the members of the jury were smart and had good critical thinking skills. Theodore had blatantly lied about some things that differed from the rest of our stories, but he was an expert at brainwashing people, who knows? Maybe he had cast some evil spell over them.

I thought for a moment that I might have been going crazy sitting there listening to all the testimony. I couldn't understand why it wasn't just a cut and dried case, but of course, everyone was innocent until proven guilty and all that nonsense.

Late in the afternoon, Nathan called Clive and I chuckled to myself because Klinefeld's eyes went wide when he saw the 6'3" hulking man approaching the stand. I highly doubted that Clive would cower under Klinefeld's techniques.

"Please state your full name for the court," Nathan instructed.

"Clive Emmanuel Barrows." I gave my parents an impressed look. His name alone sounded quite worthy of respect.

"How long were you employed by Theodore Blake?"

"I was employed by Theodore's family for almost twenty-two years. I worked for William before he passed away. And Theodore fired me in October 2017."

"What was your primary role for the Blake family?"

"I was their driver. That's pretty much all I did for twenty-one years," he said with a playful eyeroll and people around the court chuckled.

"Were you the primary driver?" Nathan asked.

"I was the only driver," he said. "Although some of the other employees covered from time to time. But I was the only one with the title of Driver."

"How often was Harry one of your passengers? Do you remember approximately how often he went out anywhere? To the store with the nanny or to a park?"

"I hardly ever saw Harry," Clive said. "Maybe once every six months."

"So is it possible that during that time, Harry may have gone out of the house with someone else?" Nathan questioned.

"Possible? Yes but not very likely. I drove Theodore about ninety percent of the time he went anywhere. And I always drove the nannies, too."

"Did you ever notice anything unusual about Harry?" Nathan asked. "Either when he was younger or when he got older?"

Clive shrugged. "I didn't see him much as a baby but as he grew, I only heard through Theodore that he had been diagnosed with intellectual disability. I didn't have much opportunity to interact with him. The few times that he was actually going somewhere, I just noticed he was very quiet. I'd say hello to him and he'd just give me this shy smile. But I noticed a very big change after Juliette arrived."

"What kind of change did you notice?" Nathan wondered.

"Harry talked a lot more and he smiled a whole lot more, that's for sure," he chuckled. "He seemed a lot more like a normal teenage kid."

"Did he go out more after Juliette arrived?"

"Juliette brought him with her on two of her days off to go shopping with her. And they went to Calgary with Theodore; I went along with them, of course. That was a four day trip and Harry just seemed like a different person, so mature and sure of himself. And everyone knew he had eyes for Jules."

Chuckling and light laughter traveled around the courtroom.

"Juliette said that you tried to rescue her and Harry in a boat. When did you realize that Theodore had them trapped?"

"We had a...disagreement and Theodore fired me in October. Before that, I saw what happened the night Harry overdosed. Theodore sent his people to call off the ambulance, telling them it was a false alarm. Then two of his guards dragged Harry out of the house and they put him in the back of the SUV I usually drive, but Theodore insisted on driving. I just knew things were really not okay after that. I went to the suite later to comfort Juliette because I knew she would be worried. And I...gave her something." 

"What did you give her?" Nathan asked.

"Juliette mentioned that she broke into Theodore's office. It wasn't exactly breaking in because I told her when Theodore would be gone and I stood guard outside while she looked through the files. She told me she had seen where Theodore kept the key for the cabinets so I just let her look while I watched out so no one would see her. She found Harry's old medical records, like well-child checks and things like that, but I told her not to take anything with her. When I went to her that night after Harry overdosed, I brought her a large envelope full of marriage certificates, birth certificates, and the like so she could piece together the things that Theodore wasn't telling her."

Nathan asked, "Is that why Theodore fired you?"

"Yes, he told me I was a traitor and that if I ever came near the house again, he wouldn't hesitate to use one of his prized guns to show me the way out. That's when I really knew Harry and Juliette were in trouble."

"Tell me about your attempt to rescue them with the boat," Nathan instructed.

"I knew Theodore would see me from any angle if I approached the front of the house. So I borrowed my buddy's boat and motored up to the inlet. I moored it at the end of Theodore's fenceline and walked to the back of the house where Harry and Juliette stayed. We made our way back to the boat but when we got there, it was gone. I knew that Theodore was on to me so I told the kids to go towards the treehouse and if they saw anyone to tell them they were just going on a picnic. I was going to try to swim for it and come back for them at another time, but then I figured they might need my help so I headed back towards the treehouse. Through the trees, I saw Theodore and two of his henchmen with their guns pointed at Harry and Juliette. I thought their best bet would be for me to create a distraction, so I yelled for them to run. That's when they started shooting."

"Did you see who shot Juliette?" Nathan asked.

"It was Theodore, for sure," Clive answered and Theodore rolled his eyes in disbelief.

"I saw Juliette go down," he said and the words caught in his throat. "And I thought Harry went down, too but the others were still shooting at me. I had to make a split second decision. I hated leaving the kids like that but I knew if I died there would be no chance of me rescuing them at all, and I had no doubt Theodore would kill me. So I ran for it and swam." He ended his story, finally breaking down and sobbing into his hands.

I looked at the jury and it sure looked like he had them convinced. God, I hoped they were really convinced.

"Your honor, I have no further questions at this time," Nathan said.

"Defense, your turn to cross examine," the judge said.

Klinefeld put on his bitch face and stepped up to Clive. "Mr. Barrows, was Theodore a good employer?"

"Besides the fact that he held those kids captive and shot at them and then abused them?" Clive spat.

"Before any of that happened," Klinefeld answered. "You were with him for twenty-two years. You must have found some enjoyment in your job."

"Yeah, I guess, up until the last year, it was a pretty cushy job. Drive people where they want to go and get paid a decent chunk of change."

"How much did you make?" Klinefeld asked.

"Objection," Nathan called. "His salary is irrelevant."

"Sustained," the judge replied.

"I just wonder if Theodore was generous, that's all," Klinefeld said.

"Theodore paid his employees well. That doesn't make him generous," Clive snipped. "Although I have to admit that he was very generous several years ago when my wife...." His voice cracked again. "...was dying of cancer. Theodore paid for all of her treatments, no questions asked."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Klinefeld said. "Before this...situation...began with Harry and Juliette, did Theodore ever give you reason to doubt his integrity? Was he ever involved in something you found questionable or unusual?"

Ugh, was that miserable excuse for an attorney actually suggesting that Theodore was a good and upstanding man before this most recent "situation"?

"It seemed odd that I didn't see Harry much," Clive admitted. "But I never asked and Theodore never told me anything about him. I honestly just kept to myself. For several years after my wife died, I probably kept to myself too much. But that's how grief is," he said sadly.

"Your honor, those are all the questions I have," Klinefeld said.

"Excuse me, your honor," Nathan said, standing and walking over to the judge. "If you'll allow it, I have just a few more questions for Clive before I call my next witness. I know it's unorthodox, but I believe that Mr. Barrows can provide some valuable insight before the next witness takes the stand."

Nathan had told us he would approach it this way, and if the judge denied him further questions, he would simply call Anne as his next witness. But he wanted to build the suspense for Theodore and put him in the hot seat for a few minutes if possible.

"All right, Greenwood," the judge answered. "But since we're about to finish for the day, you'll have to call your new witness in the morning."

"Thank you, your honor." Nathan strode over to Clive and smiled. "Clive can you tell me what happened after you were terminated by Theodore Blake? You already told us that you attempted to rescue Harry and Juliette. What else did you do?"

"After I swam out of the inlet, I actually suffered from hypothermia. It was only God's grace that I was found by some fishermen and treated in a local hospital. But as I laid in the hospital, I started to think about all my years with the Blake family. I already mentioned that my wife died of cancer. That was actually around the same time as the accident that killed William Blake. I was so taken with sorrow that I didn't really digest all the details of the accident. But just a few months ago when I was in the hospital, I started to think about how Harry's mother, Anne, used to sit in the back seat with him whenever we went anywhere. She told me that she didn't want Harry to get lonely back there by himself and that she sat there even when William drove."

Nathan listened intently, nodding, absorbing the statement, even though he already knew the story inside and out. "Please continue," he encouraged Clive.

"So I thought, if William was in the front driver's seat and Anne was in the rear seat on the passenger side, how was it that Anne and William were both killed in the wreck while Harry was almost unharmed. I believe he had some minor cuts and scrapes but that was it. So the whole situation piqued my curiosity."

"So what did you do?" Nathan asked.

"When I was released from the hospital, I did my own research. I came to the county courthouse and requested the death certificates for William Blake and for Anne Styles Blake. The clerk and I began talking about the accident as she had worked for the courthouse for most of her career, so she remembered it. At some point, I mentioned how Harry had grown up and was a rather remarkable young man and she looked at me like I was crazy. She asked if we were talking about the same accident and I assured her I was. Well, she accessed the records again and told me I must be mistaken. Then she produced for me another death certificate, one with the same date as William's and Anne's deaths. The death certificate was for Harry Edward Styles, born February 1, 1997, died October 7, 1998."

"Harry Edward Styles, as in this man seated right here?" Nathan asked.

I looked at Theodore and his face was ashen. Yes! I hoped his insides were eating him alive with guilt and humiliation as he figured out where this was going.

Clive continued, "I knew Anne was from England, and the certificate of death had her birthplace listed as Cheshire. So I went to England."

"And?" Nathan asked as every single person in the courtroom waited with bated breath.

"I found her. Anne Styles is still alive."

* * * * *

Dun dun dun!

Theodore is gonna have a hell of a time trying to explain that one!

As always, thanks so much for reading, voting & commenting <3